One of my favorite aspects of collecting the 3.75” line are the vehicles the bring life to the line.  Very rarely do I find that I don’t like a ship or vehicle that Hasbro brings to market.  Even the lamer ones are still pretty good.  One of the things that collectors have had to adapt to since Hasbro basically killed the collector super-articulated figure line and went back in time to bring us 5POA figures for the newest movies, was that they reduced the sized of the releases.  The X-Wing, quite possibly the single most iconic ship in the entire Star Wars saga, has been made many many times by Hasbro over the years of the modern line since they bought Kenner.  Fairly early on, Hasbro gave us what we might call the first “BMF”, before “BMF” was a thing.  This was when they upsized the old Kenner scale, and gave us a fairly accurately scaled T-65 X-Wing.  That mold was then refined and enhanced over the years, and soon we had many variations for many pilots.

But in 2015, Hasbro decided that the T-70, used by the Resistance, should be downscaled so we could party like it’s 1995.  The size will probably turn you off at the start, but if you’re willing to look past that, there are some other features to look at, most of which are likely to reinforce your original opinion.  The good parts about the vehicle?  Despite the size, it is a nice sculpt, and the paint job is pretty cool.  The flat black paint with the orange highlights that are unique to Poe Dameron’s customized Black One star fighter.  There is basically zero weathering to this ship, something that was changed with the later re-tool for TLJ’s “boosted” version.  There is a single landing gear, which allows the ship to sit straight on your shelf, but because there are no rear landing gears, the ship basically rests on the ground.  No real need for the pilots to use ladders to board, they can basically use just hurdle themselves into it.  Cool if you’re a fan of the Dukes of Hazzard, but otherwise, not good for Star Wars fans.

The cockpit has some decent detailing. It’s got an actual seat, versus many ships which just have an angled arrangement for the pilot to move into, comfort be damned.  The problem here is that Poe needs to be jammed so far into the cockpit (no easy task) in order to close the cockpit, that he’s practically lying down and looking straight up when you’re done.  It’s a little silly.  It comes with a BB-8, but just like 1995’s R2-D2, he is not removable, and you push the droid down to activate the S-foils into attack position.  Perhaps the worst part of the whole thing is the soft rubber nose, which is a separate piece.  Right out of the package, this was warped, so when looking at the ship head on, it looks like it’s wrinkling it’s nose at you like Bewitched.  To top it all off, and unfortunately this is completely expected at this point, the 4 laser cannons are too easily warped, also directly out of the package.

Moving on to the figure, we have, sadly, the best part of the set.  The Poe Dameron that came in the TFA basic line, is so poorly executed, it’s almost like Hasbro knew they needed something better.  So this figure puts that one to shame, but still doesn’t really wow you.  The removable helmet works well, and has a “clear” visor (no idiot visor here!).  The figure is otherwise decent for 5POA.  He’s got an acceptable sculpt, a weapon that fits in the holster or in his hand, and the face likeness isn’t too horrendous.  The figure would probably be a 5 if sold in the basic line.  The removable helmet definitely helps it.

It’s sad when a very average figure is the best part of a vehicle.  The $50 price tag does this thing no favors.  I certainly hope Hasbro considers a T-70 in the larger scale at some point in the not-too-distant future.  As it is, the vehicle is a disappointment, but due to the nice (though simple), paint applications, it’s not bad sitting on your shelf.  It gets a 3.  The good figure and paint job can’t overcome the 1995 sculpt at a 2015 price.  If you find it for $10 on clearance somewhere, maybe take a look.